你一直在做的酵母可以帮助科学家

By the end of this pandemic, we'll all have one thing in common -- at some point during our isolation, we attempted to make sourdough.

到这次大流行结束时，我们所有人都有一个共同点，在我们隔离的某一时刻，我们试图做酵母。

Whether we succeeded in making bread is beside the point. That sourdough starter could now advance the study of microbiology.

我们是否成功地做了面包无关紧要。这种酵母发酵剂现在可以促进微生物学的研究。

The Public Science Lab at North Carolina State University has capitalized on the sourdough craze, and with the help of amateur bakers who make and observe sourdough starters, scientists can learn more about the microbes that populate the living mixture.

北卡罗莱纳州立大学的公共科学实验室利用了酵母热，在制作和观察酵母发酵剂的业余面包师的帮助下，科学家可以更多地了解生活混合物中的微生物。

The mystery of sourdough

酵母的奥秘

Years before this pandemic, the Public Science Lab started the Global Sourdough Project, a citizen science initiative that studied how different types of flour and environments affected the microbes that inhabited the starter.

在这场大流行的几年前，公共科学实验室启动了“全球酵母项目”，这是一个公民科学项目，研究不同种类的面粉和环境如何影响发酵剂中的微生物。

But what happens inside sourdough starter still mystifies scientists.

但是酵母发酵剂内部发生了什么仍然让科学家们感到困惑。

Bakers create a sourdough starter -- a simple mix of flour and water -- for bacteria to move into. Somehow, they leaven the bread after a weeklong incubation period -- no yeast required, unlike other breads.

面包师制作了一种酵母发酵剂——一种简单的面粉和水的混合物，让细菌进入。不知道为什么，它们在一周的潜伏期后发酵成面包——不像其他面包，它们不需要酵母。

But why do certain microbes take up residence in certain starters, and how do they do what they do? Amateur bakers can't answer those questions with the naked eye, but to the Public Science Lab, their observations are a positive start.

但为什么某些微生物会寄居在某些发酵剂中呢?它们是如何起作用的呢?业余面包师无法用肉眼回答这些问题，但对公共科学实验室来说，他们的观察是一个积极的开端。

The recipe provided by the lab provided requires flour and dechlorinated water (so, filtered water). Amateur bakers are to dump 2 tablespoons of each into a jar and mix. And then begins the waiting.

实验室提供的配方需要面粉和脱氯水(也就是过滤水)。业余的面包师把两汤匙的面粉分分别倒进一个罐子里混合。然后开始等待。

After you've left your jar, covered with a paper towel and rubber band, in the sun for 24 hours, you've got to "feed" it every day. This means you scoop out a portion of the starter each day and add more flour and water. This feeds the hungry microbes.

当你用纸巾和橡皮筋把罐子放在太阳下24小时后，你必须每天给它“喂食”。这意味着你每天舀出一部分发酵剂，并加入更多的面粉和水。这为饥饿的微生物提供了食物。

You'll need to feed 15 times in total to complete their observations, so you'll leave your starter for over two weeks.

为了完成对它们的观察，你总共需要喂食15次，所以你要把发酵剂放两周以上。

Before you bake with your starter, the lab wants you to make some observations, like what your starter smells like and how high it rises.

在你用发酵剂烘焙之前，实验室希望你做一些观察，比如发酵剂闻起来是什么味道，发酵剂膨胀的高度。

When you're done, you'll submit your observations through an online form.

完成后，您将通过在线表单提交您的观察结果。

Who would've thought you could contribute to science by baking.

谁会想到你可以通过烘焙来为科学做出贡献。

It's no big deal if the bread doesn't turn out -- scientists can learn through your failure, too. Although, fresh bread would certainly be a plus.

如果失败了也没什么大不了的，科学家也可以从你的失败中吸取教训。不过，新鲜的面包肯定会是一个加分项。